Story of rice

Rice production is the multi-step agricultural process of growing paddy plants from single seeds and refining the harvested crop into edible food. It involves preparing the field, transplanting young saplings, harvesting the grown crop, and cleaning the grains so they can be eaten.

Preparing the field and planting

• Farmers first sow rice seeds in a small patch of land where they sprout into young saplings within a few days.
• Workers level the uneven land and build bunds so that water flows properly to every part of the field.
• The soil is plowed [ulavu] using oxen or modern machines, which loosens tight ground and clears blockages that stop water from flowing.
• Farmers add manure or fertilizer to the plowed soil to give the new plants strength.
• Workers carefully transplant [natu naduthal] the saplings into the prepared field, planting them in straight lines with equal space between them.

Harvesting and separating the crop

The transplanted saplings grow in the field for about three months until they become full paddy plants that produce lots of grains. Farmers cut and gather these mature plants during harvesting. To separate the paddy from the stalks, workers beat the plants, which knocks the grains free while leaving small pieces of the plant mixed inside.

Winnowing, drying, and milling

• Workers use a winnowing basket to toss the mixture, which allows the lighter plant parts to blow away from the heavier paddy.
• The separated paddy grains are laid out under the sun so that they dry completely.
• The dried paddy is taken to a rice mill, where machines process the grains into the rice people use for eating.

Why food should not be wasted

Every grain of rice requires months of care, plenty of water, and the hard labor of many farmers before it reaches a plate. Across the world and within local communities, many children struggle without even a single grain to eat. Taking only as much rice as needed and avoiding waste shows respect for the massive effort required to grow food.